


Then Why Am I Dead?

by Ratsmustdie



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Angst, Badass Gerard Way, Death, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Frank Iero Is A Sweetheart, Gun Violence, M/M, Murder, Mystery, kinda enemies to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29503977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ratsmustdie/pseuds/Ratsmustdie
Summary: What's life after death? Is it heaven and hell? Is it reincarnation? Is it just darkness? What if I told you it's none of them? Well, Frank is about to find out, and it's nothing what everyone told him it would be.Another thing is that, Frank doesn't remember dying.
Relationships: Frank Iero/Gerard Way
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. The Incident

"Do you believe in life after death?" The stranger said as soon as Frank opened the door.

"I'm so sorry, I really don't have time for this right now," Frank apologized and quickly closed the door on the guy's face. He didn't want to be mean, but he really didn't have the time. He was being late on his wedding day and didn't want to make the bride wait. The ceremony was gonna start in an hour and he didn't even start getting ready yet.

"God will punish you for your acts, young man," he heard the guy yell from the other side of the door. "Hell will be waiting for you!"

"I'm sorry!" Frank yelled back and ran up the stairs, where his dad and friends were waiting for him.

"Common Frank!" He heard James call from his room. "Move your ass!"

"I'm coming," Frank yelled back as he took the last step of the stairs.

"Who was it?" His dad asked when he got in his room.

"Some religious dude trying to spread God's word," Frank replied as he took his black tuxedo, his button-up shirt, the tie and the black pants, and headed to the bathroom connected to his room to get changed. He quickly got it on, expect the tie because he might be 22 years old, but he didn't learn how to tie a tie yet.

"Dad, I need you to tie my tie," Frank said as he got out of the bathroom.

"God, Frank you're so unorganized!" His dad groaned, "your hair looks like you just woke up. Do your hair, after I'll tie your tie."

"Come on here," Tyler said as he patted the chair in front of the big mirror. Frank went and sat on it, looking at himself inside the mirror. He really does look like shit.

Tyler started doing his hairstyle, putting some gel and pushing his hair backwards. This was unusual for Frank because he always has his hair in front of his face, but he can make an exception for this time. I mean, common, it's his wedding, he's not gonna look like an emo shit.

"You would've been on time if you started getting ready the moment I told you to. But NO, you had to play that last round of Call of PUBG or some shit," his dad started again. "Now you're gonna be late and embarrass yourself in front of everyone. In front of all the guests."

"We're NOT gonna be late dad," Frank said, not so sure of it, "and it's Call of Duty."

"Yeah, whatever," he turned to Tyler, "just do it faster."

"I'm trying!" Tyler groaned as he started to work 'faster.'

After less than 10 minutes, Tyler finished with his hair and Frank stood up, walking to his dad so he can now tie his tie.

"Gentlemen," his dad called, looking around at Frank's friends, "can I have some father-to-son private talk?"

Everyone nodded and started heading out. When the room was empty, his dad took the tie and started tying it.

"So, Frank, getting married huh?" His dad said, sighing at the end.

Frank laughed, "yeah, not like I have a choice."

"You're feeling obligated to marry?"

"If it was on me, I would've waited a little more, dad," Frank said, feeling a bit dad. He loves Jamia, don't get me wrong, but the only reason he proposed to her this soon was because of his parents' pressure.

"Treat Jamia well," his dad said, ignoring what Frank just said as he continued tying his tie, "she's coming form a really good family. You know me and her dad are really good friends, don't ruin that for me. You ruin that, you'll ruin a lot of good deals."

This might not be an arranged marriage, but it sure feels like one. Frank's and Jamia's parents are close. Frank's parents didn't really force him to ask Jamia out, but they sure did pressure him, just like they pressured him to propose. They told him he's 'useless and doing nothing for the family' and 'at least by marrying Jamia, he'll get their families closer and her dad will make bigger deals with them.' The rich life. Everything is about money.

In the middle of this all, at least Frank feels better knowing he actually has feelings for Jamia. She's really beautiful and intelligent, not to mention the sweetest person in this world. He's sure he can make this work even though he still thinks this is too soon. He's still TWENTY-TWO, but his parents don't seem to care. When he told that to his mom she said, "stop complaining Frank. I married when I was eighteen, I think you can handle this."

"Sure," Frank replied, taking a deep breath as his dad finished the tie, but still not let go of it.

He looked at Frank straight into the eyes and said, "I need more than that, Frank. Seriously, if you ruin this, you're gonna make me lose a lot of money."

"I promise I won't ruin this for you, dad," Frank said, rolling his eyes a little. "Now, can you let me go, I'm seriously gonna be late?"

Finally, his dad let go of his tie and they headed to the limo that was waiting for them outside. After not even thirty minutes, Frank was standing in front of the priest as church melody played in the background. Finally, the doors on the other side of the room opened, revealing Jamia with her dad. All Frank could think right now was, wow she's beautiful. She really was.

However, when the time came for him to say "I do," he got stuck. A voice in his head was telling him "don't do this" and then there was his dad's voice, telling him "don't ruin this for me." His dad's voice won and Frank said "I do" out loud and forced on a sad smile. The ceremony ended with other speeches, which Frank chose not to pay any attention to. What followed was Frank's favourite part of weddings.

The party.

Now, what Frank likes about the parties is that you can get as drunk as you want and forget about the important things for a day. The party was taking place at a really big outside restaurant with a big pool in the middle. It was already dark, the place only light up with cute lanterns hanging from upstairs on a cord.

Everything was going well. Frank was already half drunk and was having fun with his childhood friends. But of course, he can't even enjoy his own wedding party. He was talking with Tyler about how you're more likely to get a computer virus from visiting religious sites than porn sites, when the music stopped and they heard a loud bang.

"What was that?!" Tyler yelled through the screaming of people as everyone started running.

"I don't know! Sounded like a gunshot!" Frank yelled back as he looked around to see if he can see anything that could've been the source of the noise, "let's get out of here!"

They started running, Tyler leading the way and Frank following. By the time they were near the doors, most of the people were already out, the place nearly empty. Frank was about to get out as well when he heard his mom's scream.

"Frank!" She screamed. Frank stopped in his tracks and turned to see where his mother was. The scream wasn't for him though. His heart stopped at what he saw. On the other side of the place was his dad, laying dead on the ground, blood covering all of his chest. Next to him was his mom, on her knees, crying for her husband as she held his hand.

"Mom!" He yelled and started running towards her, the alcohol and his short legs slowing him down. Before he could get there, a masked man appeared from the few people that were rushing to the doors and raised a gun, pointing it at his mother while she cried her eyes out for her dead husband.

"MOM!" He yelled even louder to get her attention and make her run as he changed his direction to the masked figure so he can stop it before he fires the gun. "Stop!" He yelled at the man, but of course, his mom was too busy crying that she didn't hear him and Frank was too slow to stop the man, so the gun went off, the bullet going right through his mother's chest.

"NO! MOM!" he let out a screeching scream and changed his running direction back to his mom, nearly falling in the pool as he did so. However, before he could get any closer to her, someone's body collided with his, sending him flying in the pool. He was barely out of the water to take a deep breath when a hand held his hair and pushed him back into the water.

Frank tried to find something under him that'll help him push himself out of the water, but the pool was too deep so he couldn't find anything. Instead, he started trying to get the hand off of his hair. The grip was tight though, shooting pain in his head. His fighting was getting weaker and weaker as the lack of oxygen was making him dizzy. However, before Frank could lose consciousness, the hand was gone, so he swam up and took a deep breath. He held from the edge of the cemented floor as he coughed and tried to get back his breath.

Frank's hair was in front of his face again, covering most of his vision, the gel gone because of the water. However, Frank didn't miss the two feet that appeared in front of him. His eyes followed them up and were met with a barrel of a gun.

"Poor Frankie," the masked man behind the gun, who was now crouching down to be closer to Frank, said, "rich daddy couldn't protect him. Any last words?"

Frank wanted to say "fuck off" but he was still trying to catch up his breath. He panicked when he saw the guy take out the safety of the gun with a click.

"The fuck are you doing!?" Frank heard someone else yell. His eyes followed the voice and were met with another masked man, "Not yet!"

"Why not?!" The guy behind the gun yelled back.

"I SAID NOT YET!" The other one yelled again, "the police are on their way, just LET'S GO."

The guy turned back to Frank, lowering the gun, "looks like I can't get the satisfaction of killing you. It's sad."

And like that, the guy stood up, but not before hitting the side of Frank's head as hard as he could with the back of the gun. After that, everything was a blur. He lost his grip and was drowning again, swinging between consciousness and unconsciousness. He didn't have the strength to swim back on the surface. The hit was too hard and the pain was killing him. He's sure he was bleeding now, the chlorine making the pain even worse. He accepted his fate and closed his eyes, waiting for his death.

However, two hands pulled him out of the water and laid him down on the ground. People were yelling. Frank was coughing again, not able to open his eyes to see who pulled him out. The pain was too much.

"I told you to not kill him yet!"

"I didn't kill him, he's still alive!"

"That last hit was unnecessary!"

"Why do you care!? He's gonna be dead in a month anyway!"

Frank didn't want to die. He's still 22, he has a life to live, children to have, become a rockstar like he always dreamed.

"Whatever, if he dies now, I'm blaming this on you! The boss will be pissed. All of this will be for nothing!"

"He's not gonna die now! It was just a hit on the head and he's still breathing. See?"

"Let's just get out of here. The police will be here in any second."

And like that, the voices were gone.

Frank heard sirens before falling into complete darkness.

꧁ꕥ꧂

_4 weeks later_

"I got the gig!" Frank yelled as he stepped into the house.

"What!?" Jamia came out of their room, heading down the stairs, "Frankie, that's amazing! I'm so happy for you."

She came to Frank and planted a kiss on his lips. Frank kissed back. His band did an audition a week ago for a big festival, and they got the gig. This was big, like really big. His whole bright future depends on it. The future he might not get to. After the incident, Frank was way too paranoid. Every time he got out of the house, at least three bodyguards had to be with him, and as soon as he got home, he closed the metal doors and locked them with additional locks.

Before dying, his dad had left a will, so their houses, all the money and the businesses they had came down to Frank. But Frank didn't want the money, he wanted his parents back.

"I just-" he said breaking the kiss, "I just wish mom and dad could be here."

"They would've been really proud of you, Frank," Jamia said, looking Frank in the eyes.

Frank's eyes watered as the memories came back to him. The scar on his head was still fresh. It was healing, really slow though.

"I miss them, Jam," Frank said, breaking down to sobs, "I really miss them."

"I know you do, honey," she replied, giving him a comforting hug. Frank accepted the hug and continued sobbing in her arms. She broke the hug, looking him in the eyes and said, "let's just forget about that awful night and celebrate what you got now. Ok?"

"Ok," Frank nodded, taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself, just like his therapist told him to.

Jamia took his hand and dragged him to their room. She made him sit on the bed and said, "now, you sit here and I'll go bring us some wine to celebrate."

"Alright," Frank nodded. He laid down on the bed, thinking about that day again. Why didn't they just finish him right there and then? Why did they want him to live a month longer? That's what they said right? 'He's gonna be dead in a month anyway.' Frank remembers those words like it was yesterday. Are they even gonna kill him or is he just being paranoid for nothing? He lifted his arm to his head, feeling the big scar under his hair and wincing as the touch caused him more pain than he expected.

Frank just wished that day never happened. He wanted his parents back. He wanted his old life back. He doesn't want to live in fear every single day. He wanted his parents to be here and see how fast he's advancing in his music career. If it continued like this, he'll become a real rockstar in a year. If he makes it that long of course. If he doesn't, he knows his band will. He's just a guitarist that can be replaced by probably someone better.

Frank snapped out of his thoughts when Jamia entered the room with a bottle of wine and two glasses. Frank sat up to make space for her as she sat on the bed next to him. She put the bottle and glasses on the nightstand and started pouring wine in both of the glasses.

"To our future," she said, raising the glass.

"To our future," Frank smiled, doing the same and chugged the whole glass afterwards.

"Damn, that was fast," Jamia laughed as she put her glass on the nightstand. "Want another glass?"

"I-" Frank wanted more. He wanted to get drunk and forget about all of this. But he wasn't about to turn into an alcohol when his whole life was coming back together. He decided that one glass was enough to celebrate the special night, but he doesn't need the second, so instead, he said, "no thanks. Can we- umm can we go to sleep? I'm really tired."

"Of course, Frankie," she replied, lifting her hand and straightened Frank's hair. Frank winced when her hand touched the wound. She lifted his hair and inspected the it as she said, "you got lucky that day."

"I guess I did," Frank said, gently pushing her hand away from his head. He didn't feel comfortable about the wound, not the slightest, especially when people talked about it. It always reminded him of that day. The day he wants to forget.

"Ok then, let's go to sleep," she said.

They changed and got in bed. Just like every night, Frank thought about the incident. He thought how tomorrow can be his last, and at the same time couldn't help but feel happy that he made it through another day.

And with those thoughts, he fell into a dreamless sleep...


	2. Not Hell

Frank woke up with an empty bed next to him. Jamia never woke up before him, so it felt kinda weird. The next thing he noticed was that his alarm didn't go off, meaning he probably overslept. He bolted up at the thought and checked his alarm clock next to him only to be met with a dark screen instead of the red numbers like always. He then tried to check his phone, which was dead as well. They must've had a power outage. Well, shit.

He got out of his bed and quickly dressed into his casual clothes and headed downstairs. The house was way more silent for Frank's liking.

"Jam!" He called, walking around the house and looking for Jamia.

After looking for over five minutes, he gave up. She's probably out for god knows what, which is weird because she never really goes out this early in the morning. But yet again, Frank doesn't know what time it is, so it might be noon. The thought made him cringe because he had band practice this morning, which he probably missed. Why didn't Jamia wake him up when she left? This doesn't make any sense.

He made himself a cup of coffee and left the house. The first thing that he noticed when he got out of the house, was the sky. It looked weird. It was clouded, orange beaming behind the clouds. It was something unusual. Usually when it's clouded, it's dark, but right now it was just weird. The whole sky was orange, giving off sunset vibes, but the sun wasn't setting. Hell, Frank can't even tell where the sun is right now.

The second weird thing he noticed was the silence. No birds singing, no cars passing, just silence. The whole place looked dead and felt dead as well. I mean, this is the thing with rich neighbourhoods. No one comes and goes unless they live here and considering the whole street is taken by three big houses, you can say not a lot of people come and go.

Frank ignored the weirdness and started the car. He's late from practice, or early. He has no fucking idea since his god damn phone doesn't want to turn back on and his car clock is not helping, blinking 00:00.

"Fuck," Frank cursed and pressed on the gas pedal.

Now, his neighbourhood being empty was understandable, but Frank started to panic when he noticed he was the only one on the highway. Literally, the only one. It felt like an apocalyptic movie. He checked his phone again and it seemed to have started charging when he plugged it into the car.

After a few minutes, he got to New York downtown, which was deserted as well. He drove to the studio they always do their practices and found it to be empty. Did everyone from this world suddenly vanish? Frank started walking around downtown as he tried to understand what the fuck is going on. It's in the middle of the day, the New York City streets are supposed to be crowded right now, but during these 15 minutes that Frank has been walking, he hasn't seen a soul.

That is, of course, until when he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He looked back to see someone walking behind him, probably following him, with their hood up and head down.

"Hey!" Frank called as he walked towards the person, "Do you know what's happening? It's not usual for the streets to be this empty. I haven't seen a soul since I got out."

The person didn't reply, instead kept walking. But Frank wasn't about to let go of the only person he saw since he got out of his house. So he dumbly followed.

"Please! I don't know what's happening. Do you have any idea what could've happened?" Frank asked only to be ignored again, "Did everyone evacuate the city that I'm not aware of? My power was out this morning and my phone dead, I probably didn't get any alert."

Because the city evacuation can be the only explanation. But where exactly is Jamia? If they really evacuated the city and she left, why didn't she wake Frank up? However, that doesn't explain the lack of animals and the weird sky.

"Do you know where your family is?" Frank asked, still following the person, "I woke up and my wife wasn't there."

There was no reply as the stranger continued walking, not acknowledging Frank's existence at all. Frank stopped in his tracks, giving up on the stranger. He sighed and took out his phone to try to call one of his friends, but it didn't even ring. It beeped and turned off. Looks like this stranger is the only one he got right now.

"Hey! Wait!" He called as he ran and caught up with them, "My phone isn't working, can I borrow yours? I don't know if yours will work or not, but I wanna give it a try."

They still ignored him. Frank felt like he doesn't even exist right now. Even though he personally doesn't like people touching him, he tapped on the stranger's shoulder, another attempt to get their attention. However, they still ignored him, so that's when Frank snapped and stopped them by grabbing their arm and turning them to face him.

Frank's heart stopped. Under the hood was a guy in probably his twenties. What disturbed Frank though, was his eyes. They were filled with only black as he stared down at him, with a smirk on his face.

"Wha- what the hell?" Is all Frank could say before he started running for probably his life. He didn't make it too far as another person with the same eyes came out from one of the alleyways and blocked Frank's way. The guy was twice Frank's size, so he didn't even try to fight him, instead turned and tried to run the other way, only to be faced with at least ten other of those things with guns in their hands, all of them pointing at him.

"On your knees and get your hands behind your head!" The biggest one of them shouted as they started to form a circle around Frank. Frank did as he was told.

What the actual fuck is happening? Did the world end while he was asleep? Who are these people? Aliens? Is this how he's gonna die? What if this is just a dream? What if the next second he's gonna wake up with Jamia next to him and all of this is just a really bad dream? But it seems so real for a dream! He can FEEL the hard asphalt under his knees. Just too real for a dream.

"Name and cause of death, now!" The same guy yelled.

"F-F-Frank," He said with a shaky voice. He doesn't really understand the second part of the question. What does he mean 'cause of death?'

"Full name!" The guy shouted again, "And the cause of death?"

"F-Frank Anthony Iero Jr.," Frank said, "I-I'm not sure I understand the other question..."

"Everyone, we got a newbie here!" The same guy said as everyone started laughing. "Well, welcome to hell!"

"Wha-What do you mean?" Frank questioned, but right now he didn't seem important enough for them to answer his question.

"Cuff him. We're taking him to The Queen. She'll like this one," He said, "What was your name again? Full name."

"Frank Anthony Iero Jr.," Frank replied as someone came to cuff his hands behind his back. The guy raised his eyebrow.

"Well, well, well, if it's not the famous Frank Iero," He said with a big smirk on his face, showing his ugly teeth as he was looking down at Frank. The guy finished cuffing his hands as the big guy continued, "The Queen will definitely like you. Now, UP!"

Frank doesn't know what the hell is happening, but one thing he does know is that he has to cooperate to survive whatever's happening. Who the hell is even this Queen he's talking about? The last time he checked the USA had a president, not a queen. And what does he mean 'welcome to hell?' Is this really Hell? Is he dead? But that can't be right. He would've definitely remembered if he got shot or however he died, but all he remembers is going to bed last night and waking up to this weird shit.

Frank was snapped out of his thoughts when a gunshot rang through the empty streets. The guy on his left side who was keeping him from escaping fell on the ground with a big hole in his head.

"Run!" The big guy, which Frank assumes is the captain of the group, yelled as everyone started running. Frank didn't have a choice but to run with them, since even though one of the guys keeping him was dead, the one to his right is still gripping his arm and dragging him with them.

"Whatever you do, don't lose him!" The big guy ordered the person keeping Frank.

But of course, the next shot that rang was for the guy holding Frank. He fell on the ground, taking Frank down with him, his head hitting hard the cement floor. The others kept running, not noticing since they were a bit behind from everyone else because of Frank's lack of running skills and his cuffed hands.

Frank curled up on the ground trying to ease the pain in his head but failed. That's when he realized that his old would isn't even hurting right now. A hit like this should've shot the pain through there as well since the slightest quick movement was causing him pain just yesterday. But instead, right now, the only thing he can feel hurting is the back of his head, the spot where he hit just now.

Frank was snapped out of his thoughts when a hand gripped his arm and he was dragged back on his feet. He looked up, expecting one of those full black-eye people, but was met with a really beautiful, raven-haired guy with normal human eyes.

"Let's go before they notice you're gone!" he whisper shouted as he started dragging Frank by his arm towards one of the alleyways.

Frank noticed the gun in his belt and followed him without any protest. Besides, he prefers being with a normal human being then those weird eyes guys.

After running for a few minutes, they finally stopped in front of some bar's backdoor in one of the alleyways. He did some knocking pattern and the door was opened with a click. Behind the door was an orange-haired girl with a huge snipper on her back and a tall, skinny, black-haired guy.

"Come on," the beautiful raven-haired guy said, waiting for Frank to go in before following him inside.

The tall guy closed the door behind them and everyone headed to one of the bar boots which was full of different kind of guns.

"So, what's your name?" Said the guy who saved him, or probably saved him, as he leaned on the table. The girl started to pack up the guns on the table and the other guy sat on a chair and waited for Frank's answer.

"Frank," He replied simply.

"How long have you been dead, Frank?" He asked as he went behind Frank and tried to uncuff his hands.

"What do you mean?!" Frank snapped. He is not dead! Why does everyone keep asking him this stuff!?

The next second, his hands were free again. The guy went back and leaned on the table. Frank rubbed his wrists, inspecting the red lines caused by the cuffs. It really hurt, but right now, that was his last concern. 

"Frank, I'm not sure you understand what's happening,"

"Hell yeah, I don't!" Frank snapped again. What the hell is he doing? These people rescued him from those weird guys and he's yelling at them? Frank took a deep breath and spoke again, "I'm sorry, I- I just have no idea what the hell is happening. One day I'm living my normal life and the next, I wake up and all these weird things are happening. What the hell happened? Who were those people? Are we being attacked by aliens? Because-"

"Frank, you're dead. I'm dead, she's dead, he's dead," The guy interrupted him, "Everyone you see here is dead."

"That can't be right, I-" Frank was even more confused now, "I didn't die. I slept like any other day and woke up here. I- I didn't-"

"Then you died in your sleep," He said. he turned to the tall guy and asked, "Dallon, anything you can think of?"

"Death in your sleep..." The tall guy, Dallon, said, looking up as he was thinking. After a second he continued, "I got gas leak, fire, shot in your sleep, choked in your sleep, stabbed in your sleep, heart attack, poisoning, earthquake, carbon monoxide poisoning, cardiac arrest, chocked on your spit-"

"So if I'm dead," Frank interrupted, not wanting to hear any other possible ways that he might've died in his sleep, "Then what is this place? Is this Hell?"

"I don't know where exactly we are, no one does, but I can tell you that this is not Hell," The beautiful guy said, "Not the way the Bible described how Hell should be. So our guess is some parallel universe. That's the closest we can get. No one knows what exactly this place is. Everyone here remembers dying and appearing in this world, so all we want to do right now is survive."

"What about those people? Why were they like that? And they said something about a queen. What was that about?" Frank asked. The three looked at each other as the girl finished packing up the guns on the table. The raven-haired guy was about to say something when gunshots started outside, making the four jump.

"Look, kid, we gotta move now. I'll answer all of those questions when we get somewhere safer. Ok?" He said instead.

"I'm not a kid!" Frank snapped again, "I'm not coming with you! How can I know you're the good guys? What if the others were the good guys? I don't know any of you for God's sake! How can I trust you? And why should I believe you when you say I'm dead, huh? If I'm dead, where are my parents then?"

"I'm Gerard, that's Hayley," He said, pointing at the girl with the bag full of guns, some even sticking out of it. He turned to Dallon and continued, "And that's Dallon. Now you know who we are. Can we go now?"

"You didn't answer my other questions! Why should I trust you? How do I know you're the good guys?" Frank raised his voice. He could feel the air getting heavy. He knows he shouldn't be talking like this to people with big guns, but right now his brain isn't functioning as panic was overtaking.

He can't be dead, he just knows he can't. Not when his life was starting to come together after the incident. These people are probably now laughing inside at him for believing it might've been possible what they said. But if it's not that, then what the hell is happening? The world couldn't have come to shit like this overnight, could it?

"Look, I'm not gonna sit down and explain to you why you should or should not trust us!" The raven-haired guy, Gerard, snapped, "Or you stay here and eventually become one of them or you come with us right now!"

Frank took a deep breath and nodded. He looked down ashamed. He just can't think straight when he's panicking. These people are probably trying to help and he's acting like an ass. But what if they're not. I mean if they wanted him dead, they would've used those guns, right? But they didn't. They rescued him from those weird people.

The three headed outside and Frank followed. Even if he doesn't completely trust them, they're all he has right now. He can't go to those weird eye guys. Just by their eyes, you can see something's really wrong with them. Who knows? All of this is probably just a dream. He doesn't like it here, or this dream, whatever this is. Not at all. Too many guns. Frank hates guns. He loathes them. They're the cause of his parent's death. Every time he sees one of those things, it reminds him of that day. The day he wants to forget.

Now the only thing Frank can do is follow these three strangers with big guns, praying he is doing the right thing and not running towards his own death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i'm back on this! i don't if this chapter is confusing but more things are gonna be explained in the next chapter.
> 
> anyway, i hope i don't ruin this idea and actually get something out of it.
> 
> if you like it, comments and kudos always make my day and motivate me, so please leave a comment, giving me some feedback.


	3. The Rules

After running for about ten minutes, they eventually came to a stop in front of an abandoned factory. Even though everything here was abandoned, this factory looked like abandoned even in the real world.

Gerard turned to Frank and said, "Home sweet home."

"What do you mean ‘home sweet home?’ I'm not gonna stay here," Frank started panicking again. The place looked like it will fall on you if you lean on it. There's no way Frank's gonna live here.

"Well, too bad," he said as he opened the doors. The four went inside and he closed it right after. He looked at Frank again and continued, "it's or them, or us. And if you're choosing us you have to live here."

"Yeah, who exactly are they?" Frank asked again as he looked around the place. 

The inside looked better than the outside actually, light steaming in from the broken windows. However, they still kept walking, walking down the stairs as Frank followed the three.

"The Queen's minions," Gerard replied, " and trust me, you don't wanna become one of them."

"How- What happens when I become one of them?" Frank asked, walking as fast as he can to catch up with the three. Hayley was even shorter than Frank and had a big bag of guns, but Frank was struggling more than her to keep up with them.

"I'll explain when we get there," Gerard answered.

"Where there?" Frank asked.

"You'll see when we get there," Gerard replied, starting to get annoyed.

"Why's the sky like that though?"

"We don't exactly have day and night here,"

"Why?"

"We don't have a sun,"

"Then where does the light come from?" 

"I don't know,"

"What's behind the clouds?"

"I don't know,"

"What even is this place?"

"Can you stop with the question?!" Gerard snapped, stopping and turning to glare at Frank, "we don't have the answer of everything, Frank. So shut the fuck up and we'll tell you everything we know when we get there."

Frank wanted to shut the fuck up, but before he knew it, the question came out, "there where?"

"I'm gonna kill you," Gerard rolled his eyes and continued walking again.

"You said I'm already dead," Frank said as he followed behind Gerard again. "which I don't really believe-"

"Then what do you believe?" This time it was Hayley talking. She took Gerard's place when she noticed he was getting way too annoyed.

"I don't know," Frank replied, realizing that he doesn't have any better idea of what's happening.

Finally, they got at the bottom of the stairs. If front of them was a big room, which looked like a cafeteria. Some people where at a table, eating, and some where in line to pick up their food.

"This where you're gonna get your food," Gerard stated, "it's lunchtime so everyone's here now to take their meal. You do your job, you get shelter and food, you don't, you get kicked out, and believe me you don't wanna end up outside without a group."

"Why?" Frank asked, looking around dumbly. There were at least around a fifty people in the room.

"Her minions are everywhere. You got lucky this time. We were around and saved your ass. Next time you might not be this lucky," Gerard replied. 

"I- What am I suppose to do? I don't really have any profession. I dropped out of college last year," Frank said, feeling kinda embarrassed.

"You don't need a degree to be a cook or a janitor," Gerard started, "so don't worry that little brain of yours, we'll find you a job."

"I'm not gonna be a COOK or a JANITOR!" Frank snapped. Who do they think he is?! He lived his whole life with people working for him and they're telling him he has to cook for them? His dad was one of the richest people in the whole US and after his death, it all came down to Frank, so there’s no way he’s gonna work a cook or a janitor for these people. Never gonna happen. "Do you even know who I am?"

Gerard released a heavy annoyed breath before walking to Frank, stopping only inches away from him and looking down at him with the most threatening look.

"Listen here, Frank," He said, emphasizing his name, "I do not care who you were in your living life, but here everyone's equal. I don't care if you were the President or a homeless person. Here, everyone's equal. If you're not happy with my rules, you can always leave. So if we need a janitor and you're free, you'll be a janitor. If we need someone to do the dishes and you're free, you'll do the dishes. Got it?"

Frank nodded, looking down ashamed. This can't be happening. One day he was a well-respected wealthy guy, the next, they're telling him he has to work for some people to survive. Couldn’t life get any worse?

"Good," Gerard said as he got out of Frank's face.

"Wha- what is there to do?" Frank asked, nearly a whisper.

"For people who don’t have any degrees, we have the cooking team, the cleaning team, the farmers and the fighters- which I doubt will be a good fit for you," Gerard said, scanning Frank from head to toe.

"Hey! What makes you think I can't fight," Frank got offended. 

"Your size," Gerard replied as he turned away from Frank and continued walking. Frank wanted to yell and punch, to prove him he's a better fighter than he thinks he is, but knows better to do so. If he punched this guy right now, he'll probably end up outside with those black eye people, which he doesn't want to. Even though he has no idea who they are, they don't seem the nicest people because no one nice would've pointed a gun on his head.

Frank doesn't like this guy. No. Besides his good looks, there's nothing to like here. The guy acts like he owns this place, like Frank's staying depends on him. He's probably a janitor who wants to act like the boss. Frank doesn't want to accept that Gerard is the boss of this place.

"So what am I suppose to do?" Frank asked as Gerard started walking and he followed behind again. He noticed that Hayley and Dallon have joined other people, leaving him and Gerard alone.

"You'll try all of the jobs and I'll decide which one suits you best," he replied as they started walking up the stairs.

"Why should YOU choose what I should do?" Frank asked, "I thought everyone is equal here, why are you acting like you're the boss?"

"Because I'm the leader," Gerard replied simply.

"Yeah, proves my point. Everyone following one person doesn't that mean inequality?" Frank said.

"Everyone IS equal, Frank," Gerard said with an annoyed voice, "if I need to clean the toilets because there's no one else available, I'll do it. Every group needs a leader to take orders from when everything goes to shit. I started this group, so I'm the leader. Anyone that doesn't like my rules is free to leave anytime."

Frank didn't continue. If this guy is really the one who chooses if he stays or not, he really doesn’t ant to make him even madder. They finally got to a stop in front of a door, which looked like one of the factory offices.

"This is your room," Gerard said as he opened the door in front of them, "you'll be staying with Bob."

"Can I have my own room?" Frank asked, already knowing the answer. However, it’s better trying than giving in this easily.

"No," Came the predicted answer.

"Why?" Frank tried again.

"Because there are not enough rooms for everyone," Gerard replied as both got inside the room and he closed the door behind them.

"How many people are in the group?" 

"Forty-one if we count you too,"

"And how many rooms?" 

"Twenty-five,"

"If we divide forty-one by two, it'll be twenty point five, meaning we need twenty-one rooms, one person getting a room to themselves," Frank said as he sat on the bed, and started bouncing on it, "you're saying we have twenty-five rooms, so I think we can manage a single room for me."

"Frank, you're not getting a room to yourself. Now, if you bring this up again, you're sleeping outside," Gerard said as he sat on the bed in front of Frank, "Let's talk about the rules."

"What about when you said you'll explain everything once we get there? Isn't this the 'there'?" Frank asked, as he got up on the bed and started jumping on it.

"After we talk about the rules," Gerard simply answered. He glared at Frank who was still jumping on the bed and continued, "now, rule number one, you respect everyone here. Someone's giving you trouble, you come and see me instead of dealing with them by yourself. Rule number two, you eat whatever they give you at the cafeteria. Our food is limited, but if everyone eats equally, it should be enough. Rule number three, you don't go outside unless you're on a mission- are you even listening to me."

"Yes," Frank said, breathing fast because of the jumping.

"Your getting on my nerves. Sit the fuck down!" Gerard snapped. Once Frank sat on the bed and looked at Gerard, he continued, "rule number four, you wake up at six, do your job until six and you can have the rest of the day to relax. You'll have breaks for lunch and two other fifteen minute ones before and after lunch. I don't want four-hour random breaks in the middle of the day. Rule number five, we help each other. You're a fighter and a cook needs your help to do the dishes? You do the dishes."

"Do you even respect that last rule?" Frank asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Gerard replied without any hesitation.

"I'm not so sure about it. You seem too involved in this leadership thing to do so. Probably would've ordered someone else," Frank raised an eyebrow, waiting for a confirmation.

"You can think whatever you want. I've got nothing to prove," Gerard rolled his eyes as he continued, "rule number six, you never give our location to those things. NEVER. If they find out where we are, we gotta move and start over somewhere else. If we're lucky to have the time to get out of here at first. You respect those rules, you can stay here as long as you want."

"Can you answer my questions now?" Frank asked as he started swinging his legs.

Gerard sighed, "Yeah, shoot."

"Who's this Queen everyone's talking about?" Frank asked.

"She's someone you don't want to meet," Gerard replied, "I don't know how she's doing it, but once you look her in the eyes, you’ll get brainwashed and become one of her minions. You act like a normal person rather than a robot, like the movies show how mind control works, but you'll do everything she tells you to do. She's really manipulative, so be careful."

"Have you already met her?" Frank asked.

Gerard hesitated before answering, "once."

"If she's causing this much trouble, why aren't you people killing her?" 

"It's not that easy," Gerard laughed, "she has a whole fucking army. Not to mention the dog with the size of an elephant."

"She has a dog with the size of an elephant?" Frank said, an excited smile appearing on his face, "that's so cool!"

"Not so cool when it devours you alive," Gerard pointed out. Well, Frank didn't think about that but, hey, it's still cool. 

"Why does she even have a dog with the size of an elephant?" Frank asked, "what's her deal anyway? Why is she so special from everyone else?"

"That's another one of the things no one knows," Gerard said, "We just know that we should stay away from her as much as we can and try not to become one of her minions."

"Ok so let me put this all together," Frank raised an eyebrow, "everyone here is dead but we don't know where we are. There's an evil Queen who can control your mind once you look her in the eyes. She has a big dog with the size of an elephant- where does it even come from?"

"I don't know," Gerard replied.

"If we're dead," Frank said, "and that's a big IF, because I still can’t believe this. How did you die then?"

"I don't take personal questions," Gerard replied darkly. He then raised an eyebrow, "you really don't believe you're dead, do you?"

"Because I didn't die!" Frank snapped, "I think I would've remembered if I did."

"Then you died in your sleep. It's that simple!" Gerard snapped back. Frank's expression turned sad at that as he looked down on the floor. He really doesn't want to believe he died in his sleep, without saying goodbye to Jamia or his friends. Gerard seemed to notice the sudden change of mood and said, this time with a comforting voice, "look, Dallon is the brain of this place. Go see him later and I'm sure you'll figure this out with him. Now, you got any other questions?"

Frank nodded as he looked back up at Gerard, "um, what time is it? None of my clocks were working this morning."

"The time is not the same in here and the real world. Since we don't have day and light, we don't have anything to base our time on, so we created ours so we can have a track of time. It's now six o'clock. Everyone finished work and are now eating dinner. Speaking of eating, are you hungry? How long has it been since you woke up?"

"No, I'm not hungry," Frank replied, "and I'm not really sure how long it's been. I lost track of time with all of these things happening. What do you guys even eat?"

"We get stuff from the farm and the fighting team goes out to get stuff from the stores every day. Stuff we can't make here," Gerard explained.

"The stores?" Frank raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we don't really buy stuff. It's just there and we take it," Gerard replied.

"Doesn't it get expired or something? This doesn't make any sense," Frank was even more confused now.

"Not really. The stuff gets replaced after some time,"

"But how? That doesn't make any sense," Frank said, "how can it appear out of thin air? Can't you leave someone there to see how it gets there?"

"We can't leave our people out there for that long," Gerard replied, "we can't risk it just to see how the food gets there."

"What happens when you die here?" Frank changed the subject since this was getting him way too confused, "I'm already dead, right? Can I die twice?"

"No," Gerard replied, "when you die, you wake up at the same place you first woke up, aka where you died. However, you got shot in your head? You'll have the worse headache for a whole week or so. You got stabbed in your stomach? You'll feel the stinging in your stomach for a week or so."

Frank grinned as a question came to mind, "but if I sleep in this bed tonight, or whatever you call this time of the day, isn't my respawn point gonna change to here?"

"No, Frank, this isn't Minecraft," Gerard rolled his eyes as a small smile appeared on his form Frank's dumb question. 

"Have you tried building a nether portal?" Frank's smirk got even bigger.

"If that's all the questions you have, see you tomorrow," Gerard said as he stood up.

"No, no, no, wait!" Frank yelled, making Gerard sit back down, "if I'm dead and this is where dead people come, then where are my parents?"

"Not everyone comes here," Gerard simply said as he got up and headed to the door.

"But wait! I have other questions," Frank yelled behind him, "why not!? Then where do they go? This doesn't make any sense!?"

"I don't know, Frank," Gerard said as he opened the door and turned back to Frank, "A lot of things here don't make any sense, so be ready for weird shit to happen and never get any explanation."

And like that, Gerard was out, shutting the door behind him and leaving Frank with unanswered questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave some feedback. I don’t know how I’m doing ‘till now.
> 
> Also I have zero motivation rn so please, leave kudos and comment to motivate me. <3


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